Thoughts on 7ACV08 - Fun on a Bun - SPOILERS

[Reply #160 on:]

Watched it again, enjoyed it even more, but it now bugs me that the Neanderthals spoke English (with American accents) despite being cut off from humanity by ice for thousands of years, way before English existed, AND living in Germany where people clearly still predominantly speak German.

According to the Wikipedia article, Neanderthals had their own language. (And their brains were larger than that of homo sapiens.)

All it would have taken was a quick "put in your babel fish so that you can understand what the Germans are saying" type exchange before arriving at Oktoberfest.

Or the Professor's translation machine. Of course, he'd probably insist on modifying it so that it can be taken as a supository ...


TOTPD!

[Reply #161 on:]

Hm. I find myself having an issue.. This episode is so good, I find myself watching it at least twice a day. Is that normal? I need to know.  

Well...as long as you do not "overwatch" it, until it becomes your most disliked episode. (Don't laugh...the same thing happened to a friend of mine with his once favorite song )

[Reply #162 on:]

When they first get to Oktoberfest and Fry is told to shut up, the small classical band is playing a slow, much calmer version of "Roll out the Barrel", a famous Czech drinking song.

Fun fact: It's also played during Milwaukee Brewers baseball games and Green Bay Packers football games.  (Wisconsin's famous for its German and other Central European heritage)

Are you from here???

ARE YOU INFRINGING ON MY TURF

Anyway, -it is?  (Played, that is?; not the heritage part, buh)  I don't go to baseball games or football games, (in fact I've only ever been to one of those two things ever, and that was a Brewers game at County Stadium waaaay back when I was 10), so I wouldn't know, but it sounds plausible.

episode:
four things I liked -
• the way the saber-toothed kitty licked itself
- the Savage Supersize Sloth snuggling Hermes
• the Flintstones thing with the rack-o'-mammoth toppling the table, that came out of nowhere and made me gigglechortle
- the snip* with the flashbacks/memories reconnecting in the cortex, as exemplified by winna's ginchy gif  :)

*(pun intended, (snipped synapses), naturally, of course).

Was the Hairy Elephante bit in this one?  If so then I guess that would make five.

[Reply #163 on:]

Hm. I find myself having an issue.. This episode is so good, I find myself watching it at least twice a day. Is that normal? I need to know. 

I've been away from the internet for a couple of days and I had withdrawls ><

[Reply #164 on:]

Up to this point I had found this season a little lack luster, some where ok but did not feel like writing about them and I will be honest the preview of this episode did not fill me with confidence.  It is occasionally nice to be wrong.

I really enjoyed this episode, the various plots fitted nicely together, the shippyness was not overdone and it certainly seems they are continuing to reduce Bender's jerkyness.  It had some great lines, personally liked

"In recognition of your overwealming victory, let's call it a draw"

Also another episode where Futurmama is more subltle with film and TV references than say a certain family related show. (ok the flinstone bit was not too subtle but in the other show they would have explicitly pointed out it was a Flintstone bit).

Also a pity that the site ANSTATMAW is not still up and running as Amy's Oktoberfest outfit certainly shoudl be chronicalled there.

All in all the episode is not quite at the top of the new batch for me (TLPJF and POB) but it is pretty close.

[Reply #165 on:]

Watched it again, enjoyed it even more, but it now bugs me that the Neanderthals spoke English (with American accents) despite being cut off from humanity by ice for thousands of years, way before English existed, AND living in Germany where people clearly still predominantly speak German.

According to the Wikipedia article, Neanderthals had their own language. (And their brains were larger than that of homo sapiens.)

Clearly, English is the ultimate language, the pinnacle of communication, at which any society will eventually arrive.

[Reply #166 on:]

I'm still waiting for that to happen.

[Reply #167 on:]

Yeah, America was close for a while but has drifted off into gibberish these days. I bet if I told them to gunglefump a wobblesnock, they'd be crobbled about the gumblebox before they distarbled a refungular meaning to what I was saying.

[Reply #168 on:]

Hm. I find myself having an issue.. This episode is so good, I find myself watching it at least twice a day. Is that normal? I need to know.  

Well...as long as you do not "overwatch" it, until it becomes your most disliked episode. (Don't laugh...the same thing happened to a friend of mine with his once favorite song )

Indeed! I'm all too aware of getting worn out over something. and I'm glad to say that I don't bring myself to watch this because I have to, but it's kind of like a favorite type of food.. If I crave something, I'll satisfy that craving.

Hm. I find myself having an issue.. This episode is so good, I find myself watching it at least twice a day. Is that normal? I need to know. 

I've been away from the internet for a couple of days and I had withdrawls ><

Been down that road. I feel your pain 

[Reply #169 on:]

By far the best episode of this season and among the best since Futurama is back. I didn't like the first couple of seconds. That was it though. Other than that, it had a great story line, good pacing, funny jokes (not an abundance of them, but there were enough around) and it was touching emotionally. The fight scene was awesome. And I always appreciate Americans trying to speak German, for reasons that must not be disclosed. Jawohl!
10/10 and kudos to whoever wrote this one. Give him a pay raise. For example by firing those writers who caused YLL or Butterjunk to happen.

[Reply #170 on:]

Eric Horsted wrote Yo Leela Leela. He's also written some of the best futurama episodes ever, including I, Roomate, A Flight to Remember, War is the H-Word, Lethal Inspection and The Bots And The Bees. So maybe we could give him a pass.

[Reply #171 on:]

Hm. I find myself having an issue.. This episode is so good, I find myself watching it at least twice a day. Is that normal? I need to know.  

You've got me beat, but I have watched it 4 times so far.

[Reply #172 on:]

Eric Horsted wrote Yo Leela Leela. He's also written some of the best futurama episodes ever, including I, Roomate, A Flight to Remember, War is the H-Word, Lethal Inspection and The Bots And The Bees. So maybe we could give him a pass.

So far in the CC run, he has also written "The Mutants are Revolting".  Even with the terrible "Yo Leela Leela", his batting average is still quite good.

[Reply #173 on:]

Hm. I find myself having an issue.. This episode is so good, I find myself watching it at least twice a day. Is that normal? I need to know. 

You've got me beat, but I have watched it 4 times so far.

Yeah, I've had this episode hooked up to me on an IV for almost a week now.

[Reply #174 on:]

Yeah, America was close for a while but has drifted off into gibberish these days. I bet if I told them to gunglefump a wobblesnock, they'd be crobbled about the gumblebox before they distarbled a refungular meaning to what I was saying.

Hey, if it wasn't for America, you'd be speaking German right now, and not words like "gunglefump", "wobblesnock", sorry ... can't hold it in any longer ...

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

[Reply #175 on:]

When they first get to Oktoberfest and Fry is told to shut up, the small classical band is playing a slow, much calmer version of "Roll out the Barrel", a famous Czech drinking song.

Fun fact: It's also played during Milwaukee Brewers baseball games and Green Bay Packers football games.  (Wisconsin's famous for its German and other Central European heritage)

Are you from here???

ARE YOU INFRINGING ON MY TURF

Anyway, -it is?  (Played, that is?; not the heritage part, buh)  I don't go to baseball games or football games, (in fact I've only ever been to one of those two things ever, and that was a Brewers game at County Stadium waaaay back when I was 10), so I wouldn't know, but it sounds plausible.

Nah, I'm not from Wisconsin. The reason I know about "Roll Out the Barrel" is because me and my family once took a trip to Chicago and Milwaukee for tourism. Since the tickets prices were fairly reasonable we decided to go to a Brewers game. When they played it I asked one of the locals about it. Miller Park's a cool stadium.

Sorry for the tangent.

[Reply #176 on:]

Yeah, America was close for a while but has drifted off into gibberish these days. I bet if I told them to gunglefump a wobblesnock, they'd be crobbled about the gumblebox before they distarbled a refungular meaning to what I was saying.

Hey, if it wasn't for America, you'd be speaking German right now.

I assume you're making the standard claim that without American intervention, World Wars I and II would have ended badly for the UK.

Congratulations, you fail history. If you wish to argue your case, there is a history thread in which you can make your doomed attempt. It would be severely offtopic to do so here, though. I will be more than happy to educate you in the appropriate thread.

[Reply #177 on:]

Yeah, America was close for a while but has drifted off into gibberish these days. I bet if I told them to gunglefump a wobblesnock, they'd be crobbled about the gumblebox before they distarbled a refungular meaning to what I was saying.

Hey, if it wasn't for America, you'd be speaking German right now.

I assume you're making the standard claim that without American intervention, World Wars I and II would have ended badly for the UK.

Congratulations, you fail history. If you wish to argue your case, there is a history thread in which you can make your doomed attempt. It would be severely offtopic to do so here, though. I will be more than happy to educate you in the appropriate thread.

WWI no UK would have been fine.
WWII not so much.

And I do know my history.

[Reply #178 on:]

World War II was over the moment Germany decided to invade the Soviet Union.

Seriously, nice job fixing it, villian.

[Reply #179 on:]

WWI no UK would have been fine.
WWII not so much.

Congratulations, you fail also.

If you don't understand why, then ask the question in the appropriate thread (it's not this one).

[Reply #180 on:]

Yeah, in the late stages of WWI, Germany was on the brink of victory. The furthest advances they made in the entire war were in 1918. (French troops had mutinied the previous year, as of course so did the Russian troops, indicating abysmal morale on the part of those Allies. The Russians pulled out of the war, the French didn't but it was close.) However, all sides were exhausted by the summer of 1918, and the arrival of large, well-equipped and fresh divisions from the USA tipped the balance in favour of the Allies. It was a classic Napoleonic tactic on a grand scale -- he would deliberately set aside part of his army as a reserve, and after half a day or so of battle, when the troops engaged in the actual fighting (on both sides) were worn down and low on ammunition, he would send in the fresh troops and overwhelm the opponent.

[Reply #181 on:]

WWI no UK would have been fine.
WWII not so much.

Congratulations, you fail also.

If you don't understand why, then ask the question in the appropriate thread (it's not this one).

If you say its so then it must be true.

[Reply #182 on:]

What...was any of this conversation about the episode?

[Reply #183 on:]

The episode was a disjointed mess of unrelated themes hammered together, book-ended with a flimsy romantic subplot, and it was brilliant.

I liked how not even Fry knew if he and Leela were in a relationship. Seemed like a shout out to the fans who've been having the same problem.

[Reply #184 on:]

Little additional info:
The "chicken dance"'s (Swiss composition) real name is in fact "Ententanz" (Duck Dance).

"Chicken Dance" originates from a German band first introducing that song at an Oktoberfest in Oklahoma.  They looked for a duck costume to demonstrate the dance in costume, but could only get a chicken costume. They considered it close enough, and so the name "Chicken Dance" caught on in the USA.

[Reply #185 on:]

....and so the name "Chicken Dance" caught on in the USA.

And caught on quite cheesily in all sorts of weddings in the USA, in addition to the Y-M-C-A, Macarena, Electric Slide, Thriller Dance...there must be more.

I love the Chicken Dance, btw. Oh, and "Roll Out the Barrel!" Two more months until Wurstfest comes around, can't wait.

[Reply #186 on:]

....and so the name "Chicken Dance" caught on in the USA.

And caught on quite cheesily in all sorts of weddings in the USA, in addition to the Y-M-C-A, Macarena, Electric Slide, Thriller Dance...there must be more.

There is a German version of Y-M-C-A, called LMAA. ("Leck mich am Arsch" = "Kiss my Ass"). It's about a henpecked husband, who stands his wife's constant nagging by smiling, replying "Yes, honey, of course you are right", and thinking "LMAA" (and ignoring what she told him to do).

For some strange reason, that song became quite popular at weddings..

[Reply #187 on:]

"Leck mich am Arsch" = "Kiss my Ass"

Oooo, I'm going to use that on my "German" husband tonight! But he'll probably take that literally and then...

I surround German in quotes because I really doubt the veracity of his claim that he is German. When we went to Austria a few years ago, the dude was useless in speaking the language, even though he was bragging on he had taken German, knew all the curse words, blah blah.

[Reply #188 on:]

Well, Austrian German is quite different from "standard" German, to the point where an Austrian-German speaker and a standard-German speaker will have considerable difficulty understanding each other's speech.  Low German (Plattdeutsch) is even more different, it (or at least its western dialect) is actually as close to Dutch as it is to standard German.

[Reply #189 on:]

I was just hoping he could get us by with just some basic phrases, but nope. He is of German descent, but with how much he brags about it, i would have thought he'd know something.

[Reply #190 on:]

Well, Austrian German is quite different from "standard" German, to the point where an Austrian-German speaker and a standard-German speaker will have considerable difficulty understanding each other's speech.  Low German (Plattdeutsch) is even more different, it (or at least its western dialect) is actually as close to Dutch as it is to standard German.

And we won't even get into Swabian [Schwäbisch] ...

But if you want a book about German cursing, why not check out Scheisse! The Real German You Were Never Taught In School? (The author is listed as "Gertrude Besserwisser", but I doubt that's a real name, since "Besserwisser" means "know-it-all".)

[Reply #191 on:]

And we won't even get into Swabian [Schwäbisch] ...

Hea, do guck I als Badner in e Ami Forum nai, und Du kommsch mir mit de Schwobeseggl, Kerle. Ja bisch Du denn noch ganz gebagge, Du kreizdämlicher Labbeduddl ?

(That was some cursing in my local dialect. My hats off to any non-native German speaker who can translate that

Show spoiler

It was basically a rant at Fnord for daring to mention the Swabians. I come from "Baden", and we are said to like the folks from "Württemberg", the Swabians, not quite as much as the Scots do like the English )

[Reply #192 on:]

And we won't even get into Swabian [Schwäbisch] ...

Hea, do guck I als Badner in e Ami Forum nai, und Du kommsch mir mit de Schwobeseggl, Kerle. Ja bisch Du denn noch ganz gebagge, Du kreizdämlicher Labbeduddl ?

(That was some cursing in my local dialect. My hats off to any non-native German speaker who can translate that

Show spoiler

It was basically a rant at Fnord for daring to mention the Swabians. I come from "Baden", and we are said to like the folks from "Württemberg", the Swabians, not quite as much as the Scots do like the English )

My German ancestors came from Swabia. Sennfeld, to be precise; one of my direct anscestors was once mayor of Sennfeld.

[Reply #193 on:]

Some news on the Neanderthal/Modern Human connection:

Genetic Analysis Solves Human-Neanderthal Interbreeding Puzzle

The story began last year when anthropologists announced that they had sequenced the Neanderthal genome for the first time. The announcement came with the bombshell that humans and Neanderthal share small fraction of their genes, between 1 and 4 per cent.

There was also a curious twist: not all humans have these Neanderthal genes. In fact, you can divide humanity in two by this measure. On the one hand there are humans from sub-Saharan Africa who have little Neanderthal DNA and on the other, there is the rest of us who do have it.

Today, Sriram Sankararaman at Harvard Medical School and a few pals say they've found a way to distinguish between these scenarios.

Their trick is based on the way genetic material shuffles around after each generation. This shuffling ensures that contiguous chunks become smaller as time goes on. So the size of the contiguous chunks is a handy measure of their age.

Sankararaman and co say that by this measure, humans and Neanderthals must have shared their genes between 47,000 and 65,000 years ago, well after the exodus from Africa.

That's good evidence for the first theory that humans and Neanderthals enjoyed one almighty love-in about 50,000 years ago in Europe, although the real story is probably one of rape and pillage rather than of peace and love.

[Reply #194 on:]

the real story is probably one of rape and pillage rather than of peace and love.

Pft. Everyone knows that rape and pillage weren't invented until thousands of years later, when a group of Norsemen got bored and decided to go have a beach party in Northumbria.

[Reply #195 on:]

Sankararaman and co say that by this measure, humans and Neanderthals must have shared their genes between 47,000 and 65,000 years ago, well after the exodus from Africa.

So much for "about exactly 30,000 years."

[Reply #196 on:]

"Fun on a Bun"


Bender pulling a Wooly Mammoth out of the ground ready to grind into sausage meat


I notice the amount of love this one seems to be getting on this board. I do like it very much but just not as much as everyone else it seems. It's very well plotted, well thought out and is very well paced leaving a very neat and tidy little episode. I guess it could have been funnier although the Bender subplot was pretty hilarious. That's not to say this wasn't funny (look below for my favorite scenes) I just think they relied on the sweet moments and epic battle a little too much.

It's definitely more sweet than it is funny which will probably please the shippers but for someone like me who doesn't mind the relationship but isn't a huge fan, I just think it could have been better. Characterization was pretty damn great with each character having at least one funny moment as well. Here are a few of my favorite things...


* The crew acting like a family in the opening few scenes
* "For once, I thought it might be nice to do something in a social setting! Finally get to know each other. Why, I don't even know half your names! You, boy! What do they call you?"
* I found it weird how the Professor stated that he wanted to get to know the crew yet he didn't even go to Oktoberfest  
* "Mammoths frozen for exactly 30,000 years of so"
* "Wait till those judges get their hands on my mammoth sausage!"
* The Escape Pod gag
* The dramatic music as the crew wait for Leela to remember Fry was hilarious
* "They may not have technology like us but we have something they don't have ... technology!"
* The sabre-tooth cat catapult
* I enjoyed the kiss and the still shots from other episodes as Leela's memory returned


As you can see there are lots of funny one liners. I did enjoy this one but compared with other episodes containing the sweet emotional core and the cross fading scenes ("Jurrassic Bark", "The Luck of the Fryrish") it does not compete. It's sweet without being too much, really well plotted and it's funny but not hilarious, so it's pretty hard to rate. It's a great episode but it's not one of my favorites (let alone in my top ten...) I do think my score may change over time (hopefully increasing) but this is how I feel on my second viewing...


15/20 (B+)    

[Reply #197 on:]

I'm sorry, Boxy, but this has been going on for far too long and I can't take it anymore.  The word you want is "definitely", not "defiantly".

[Reply #198 on:]

I'm sorry, Boxy, but this has been going on for far too long and I can't take it anymore.  The word you want is "definitely", not "defiantly".

Are you defiantly sure? I'm just kidding, thanks for pointing it out - I always seem to spell that word wrong for some reason (it doesn't help that I use it so often in my reviews )

[Reply #199 on:]

Boxy is defiant against spelling "definite" correctly.